The outdoor office: a pilot study of environmental qualities, experiences of office workers, and work-related well-being.

Outdoor office work is an emerging aspect of the concept of 'new ways of working', but only sparse data are available about the environmental qualities of the outdoor office space, experiences of office workers, and work-related well-being of outdoor office work. Here, we present an exploratory pilot study on well-being and outdoor office work in a public urban space. An outdoor office was set up in the courtyard of a university campus, and the participants (n = 16) conducted office work outdoors for 30 min and thereafter participated in an eye-tracking session for 11-15 min (n = 8) and subsequently filled out surveys (n = 16). The eye tracker allowed the discovery of natural and built elements in the outdoor environment that caught the participants' visual attention, whereas the surveys assessed aspects of their subjective experiences of the outdoor office space (its visual and spatial qualities) and the work there. The results are presented as network graphs where correlations are shown regarding different aspects of office work outdoors. The results indicate that outdoor office work in a public urban space may promote work-related well-being in terms of positive outdoor office space experiences. Based on the findings, a preliminary set of outdoor office qualities is proposed. Those qualities relate to the legibility and imageability of the outdoor office space, its focal points, and depth/spaciousness, in addition to attributes of usability and environmental richness, including if the outdoor office space affords natural contact and supports activities, in addition to social and individual interactions and relations.

Exploring the relationship between working from home, mental and physical health and wellbeing: a systematic review.

Background: Understanding the impact of working from home on health and wellbeing is of great interest to employers and employees alike, with a strong need for up-to-date guidance. The aim of this systematic review was to identify, appraise and synthesise existing research evidence that explores the impact of home working on health and wellbeing outcomes for working people and health inequalities in the population. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of qualitative, quantitative and observational studies. We searched databases, reference lists and UK grey literature and completed citation searching of included papers. We extracted and tabulated key data from the included papers and synthesised narratively. Factors associated with the health and wellbeing of people working at home reported in the literature were displayed by constructing mind maps of each individual factor which had been identified. The findings were combined with an a priori model to develop a final model, which was validated in consultation with stakeholders. Results: Of 96 studies which were found to meet the inclusion criteria for the review, 30 studies were published before the COVID-19 pandemic and a further 66 were published during the pandemic. The quality of evidence was limited by the study designs employed by the authors, with the majority of studies being cross-sectional surveys (n = 59). For the most part, for studies which collected quantitative data, measures were self-reported. The largest volume of evidence identified consisted of studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic which looked at factors which influence the relationship between working from home and measures relating to mental health and wellbeing. Fifteen studies which considered the potential for working at home to have different effects for different subgroups suggested that working at home may have more negative consequences during the COVID-19 pandemic for women and in particular, mothers. There was very little evidence on age (two studies), ethnicity (one study), education or income (two studies) in terms of moderating home working effects, and very limited evidence from before the COVID-19 pandemic. The concept of enforced working from home and having 'no choice' was reported in only one paper prior to the pandemic and two papers reporting on working from home as a result of COVID-19. However, the concept of lack of choice around working from home was implicit in much of the literature - even though it was not directly measured. There were no clear patterns of wellbeing measures which changed from positive to negative association (or vice versa) during the pandemic. Limitations: The quality of the evidence base was very much limited by study designs, particularly for studies published during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the majority of studies consisting of data collected by cross-sectional surveys (often online). Due to the rapidly expanding nature of the evidence on this topic, it is possible that new studies were published after the final citation searches were conducted. Discussion: The evidence base for the factors which influence the relationship between home working and health-related outcomes has expanded significantly as a result of the need for those whose work could be done from home to work at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings suggest that there are factors relating to the external context, the role of employers and the circumstances of the employee which contribute to determining whether someone works at home and what the associated impacts on health and wellbeing may be. Learning from the COVID-19 lockdown experience will be important to inform future policy on home and hybrid working. Future work: There is a need for better-quality studies of the health impact of home working, in particularly studies which recruit a range of participants who are representative of the working population and which are designed to minimise sampling/recruitment biases and response biases. Funding: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Public Health Research programme (project reference 18/93 PHR Public Health Review Team) and will be published in full in Public Health Research; Vol. 11, No. 4. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. Study registration: This study is registered as PROSPERO 2021 CRD42021253474.

INTRODUCTION: Working from home is becoming more common and has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the impact of working at home on the health of home workers and the general population remains unclear. METHODS: We looked for research which had been undertaken to help to understand the impact of home working on people's health. One researcher summarised the findings of each paper in tables, and these were checked by a second researcher. These were then drawn together into a final diagram to summarise the findings of all the relevant studies. RESULTS: We found 96 papers and reports: 30 published before the COVID-19 pandemic and 66 published during the pandemic. This shows that the number of studies in this area has increased significantly as a result of home working due to COVID-19 lockdowns. The largest volume of studies we found were conducted during the pandemic and looked at measures of wellbeing and mental health. Lack of choice over whether to work from home was also considered in respect to wellbeing. Further measures linked to the home-work environment included feeling in control of time, lack of commuting to work, more time with the family, lower work/family conflict, and spaces shared with others. Openness to new ways of living was also included. Fifteen studies suggested overall that working at home may have more negative consequences during the COVID-19 pandemic for women and, in particular, mothers. There was very little evidence to tell us how a person's age, ethnicity, education or income might affect their health when working from home. CONCLUSIONS: Many factors determine whether someone works at home, and the effects on their health and wellbeing. These are related to what is happening in the world, the employer and type of job, and the circumstances of the employee.

How new ways of working during COVID-19 affect employee well-being via technostress, need for recovery, and work engagement.

COVID-19 led to a surge in employees experiencing New Ways of Working (NWW), as many had to work from home supported by ICT. This paper studies how experiencing NWW during COVID-19 affected job-related affective well-being (JAWS) for a sample of employees of the Dutch working population. Hypotheses are tested using Preacher and Hayes' (Behav Res Methods 40 (3):879-891, 2008) bootstrap method, including technostress, need for recovery and work engagement as serial mediators. The results show that higher levels of NWW relate to higher JAWS, to more feelings of positive well-being (PAWS), and less feelings of negative well-being (NAWS). Much of these relations is indirect, via reduced technostress and need for recovery, and increased work engagement. Distinguishing the separate facets of NWW and their relations to PAWS/NAWS, the results show that NWW facets management of output, access to colleagues and access to information directly relate to less negative well-being. However, as the NWW facet time- and location-independent work negatively relates to feelings of positive well-being, NWW as a bundle of facets is not a set-and-forget strategy. Therefore, this study recommends that NWW be supplemented with regular monitoring of employees' well-being, technostress, need for recovery and work engagement.

Work schedule flexibility and teleworking were not good together during COVID-19 when testing their effects on work overload and mental health.

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven organizations to implement various flexible work arrangements. Due to a lack of longitudinal studies, there is currently no consensus in specialized literature regarding the consequences of flexible work arrangements on employee mental health, as well any long term potential impacts. Using the Job Demand-Resource Model, this study documents consequences of the implementation of two types of flexible work arrangement: work schedule flexibility and teleworking on employee mental health over time, and the mediating role played by work overload during the accelerated implementation of flexible work arrangements in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a longitudinal design and probabilistic sampling, 209 workers participated in this study, twice answering a flexible work arrangement and mental health questionnaire during the pandemic. Findings of this moderated-mediation suggest that work schedule flexibility generates positive effects on mental health over time due to decreased work overload, but only for employees not working from home. These results offer theoretical and practical implications applicable to organizations considering implementation of flexible work arrangements, particularly with regard to how these flexible practices could support a balance between demand and resources, their impact on work overload, and employee mental health over time.

Engagement, Exhaustion, and Perceived Performance of Public Employees Before and During the COVID-19 Crisis.

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Swiss federal government implemented a lockdown that prompted a majority of private and public organizations to implement teleworking solutions for their employees. This study aimed to examine the impact of work modalities, job-related, relational, and organizational climate variables on employees' engagement, exhaustion, and perceived performance both before and during the forced teleworking period. Based on the job demands-resources framework, a survey was conducted (N = 1,373) in a Swiss Cantonal public administration. Results show that while the forced telework period positively influenced employees' work autonomy and work-life balance, it negatively influenced their degree of collaboration and perceived job strain but did not affect their engagement levels. The freedom to organize ones' own work and collaboration with colleagues were identified as the main resources that positively influence employees' engagement and perceived performance while limiting exhaustion.

Reimagining e-leadership for reconfigured virtual teams due to Covid-19.

Driven by an unexpected transition into virtual working worldwide as a result of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, in this paper, we examine the extent to which existing knowledge from the literature on virtual teams (VTs) spanning two decades can be used to inform how leadership can be exercised in the Covid-19 'new normal', involving 'reconfigured' VTs which have both similarities with, and differences from, earlier VTs. Drawing on existing literature on VTs pre-Covid-19, we explore what current (and future) VTs might look like and what this means for leadership in this new context with an emphasis on how leadership, or e-leadership, can be exercised to help the leaders of traditional, physically collocated teams that had to transition into VTs. These new e-leaders need to come to grips with a variety of new challenges in order to create high-performing and sustainable VTs. Following a semi-systematic, state-of-the-art literature review, we: (a) identify key themes and explain with a theoretical model how existing knowledge can lead to new insights for newly transitioned e-leaders; (b) discuss what future information systems (IS) researchers should focus on given the reconfiguration and new characteristics of VTs in the Covid-19 context; and (c) 'translate' the findings of our synthesis of the existing literature into prescriptive advice that can be used to inform practitioners.

Remote Working in a Public Bureaucracy: Redeveloping Practices of Managerial Control When Out of Sight.

This article examines managerial control practices in a public bureaucracy at the moment of introducing remote work as part with a new ways of working (NWW) project. The qualitative study builds on 38 interviews with supervisors and subordinates conducted before the advent of COVID-19. By interpreting interviewees' conversations about current and anticipated future work practices in the changing work setting, we reveal tacit and hidden practices of managerial control that are currently prevalent in many organizations introducing remote working. Three constitutive moments of the organization's transformation to NWW are analytically distinguished: (i) how implicit becomes explicit, (ii) how collective becomes self, and (iii) how personal becomes impersonal. Our findings emphasize that the transition to NWW must take into account prevailing institutional logics and must reconnect to a fundamental and often neglected question: What does doing work mean within the particular organization? Negotiating this fundamental question might help to overcome supervisors' uncertainties about managerial control and provide clarity to subordinates about what is expected from them while working remotely. Finally, we discuss how the transition to NWW may serve as both an opportunity and a potential threat to established organizational practices while highlighting the challenge supervisors face when the institutional logics conflict with remote working.

Productivity, Satisfaction, Work Environment and Health after Relocation to an Activity-Based Flex Office-The Active Office Design Study.

Implementation of activity-based flex offices (AFOs) are becoming increasingly common. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of an AFO on perceived productivity, satisfaction, work environment and health. Questionnaire data from the longitudinal, quasi-experimental Active Office Design Study was used. The study evaluates a public organization relocating staff to either an AFO or to cell offices. Measures from baseline, 6 and 18 months after relocation, were analyzed. Employees in the AFO experienced a decreased productivity and satisfaction with the office design. Lack of privacy as well as increased noise disturbance, less satisfaction with sit comfort and work posture were reported. Employees in the AFO with work tasks requiring a high degree of concentration experienced lower productivity while those with a high proportion of teamwork rated productivity to be continually high. No significant group differences were found between the two office types in general health, cognitive stress, salutogenic health indicators or pain in the neck, shoulder or back. The study highlights the importance of taking work characteristics into account in the planning and implementation process of an AFO. Flexible and interactive tasks seem more appropriate in an AFO, whereas individual tasks demanding concentration seem less fit.

Risk Factors and Leadership in a Digitalized Working World and Their Effects on Employees' Stress and Resources: Web-Based Questionnaire Study.

BACKGROUND: In today's world of work, the digitalization of work and communication processes is increasing, and will increase even further. This increase in digitalization at the workplace brings many new aspects of working life to light, such as working in virtual teams, mobile working, expectations of being constantly available, and the need for support in adapting and learning new digital tools. These changes to the workplace can contain risks that might harm the well-being of employees. Leaders can support the well-being of their employees in terms of protecting and replenishing their work-related resources to cope with critical work demands. This so-called health-promoting leadership could serve as a buffer between risk at the workplace and critical outcomes, such as stress, by amplifying work-related resources. OBJECTIVE: This study's aims were twofold. First, we wanted to investigate if risk factors related to higher digitalization at the workplace can be identified and if these risk factors have an impairing effect on the well-being of employees (eg, higher stress and lower resources). Second, we wanted to investigate if the health-impairing effects of these risk factors can be reduced by health-promoting leadership. METHODS: A total of 1412 employees from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland took part in this online study and provided information on their perceived risks at the workplace, their leaders' health-promoting behaviors, and their work-related stress and resources. RESULTS: The results of a hierarchical regression analysis showed that all four risk factors of digital work (distributed team work, mobile work, constant availability, and inefficient technical support) were related to higher stress at the workplace. In addition, distributed team work and inefficient technical support were associated with lower work-related resources. A possible buffer effect of health-promoting leadership between these risks and employee well-being was visible for inefficient technical support. In particular, in the case of having fewer support opportunities in learning and using digital tools, leaders could weaken the potential critical effects on stress. As for the other risk factors, leaders might engage in a different leadership behavior to improve their employees' well-being, as the physical distance between leaders and employees in virtual team work or mobile work could make health-promoting leadership more difficult. CONCLUSIONS: In a digitalized working world, solutions are needed to create working conditions that benefit employees. The results of this study strongly support the importance of investigating risk factors associated with an increase in digitalization at the workplace in addition to traditional risk factors. As for leadership, leaders need to show leadership behavior adapted to a digitalized workplace in order to reduce employee stress and increase work-related resources.

Changes in sleep schedule and chronotype due to COVID-19 restrictions and home office.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: In this study, we researched the effects of the COVID-19 restriction measures on the sleep health of N = 681 German residents (mean age: 28.63 years, SD: 10.49 years). METHODS: The data were collected with an anonymous online survey composed of validated questionnaires and additional questions to quantify changed circumstances during the pandemic. Data were collected from May 18 to June 17, 2020, while governmental restrictions were imposed in Germany. We exclusively analysed participants working in home office during this time. RESULTS: Participants woke up about 1 hour later during the COVID-19 restriction phase, while going to bed at almost the same time as before. During the week, participants slept about an hour longer, while sleep at weekends did not differ significantly. Social jetlag decreased from 1:39 ± 1:00 to 0:49 ± 0:42 min in our sample. The number of children in the household was a significant factor predicting sleep timing. Participants with children living in the same household slept longer and sleep onset was later. CONCLUSION: In terms of sleep behaviour and, consequently, sleep health, participants benefited from the transition to home office. They were able to adapt their waking and working hours better to their biological rhythm, which reduced social jetlag.

State of science: the future of work - ergonomics and human factors contributions to the field.

This article is concerned with scholarly ergonomics and human factors (E/HF) contributions to date to the field of research inquiry known as the 'future of work'. The review considers E/HF perspectives on how the nature of work is changing and what this means for the practice of E/HF and for human performance and wellbeing at work. This field of research has attracted much attention from scholars from various disciplines as flexible working arrangements and casualised employment, in particular, have come under the microscope during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article begins by setting out the future of work field, focussing on the mega trends and future of work forces that are most relevant to the discipline. Next, E/HF contributions to this field are identified and discussed. Surprisingly, given the E/HF tradition as a system discipline fundamentally concerned with the study of human work, and as a contributor to transdisciplinary research related to the design of work systems, a search of the scholarly literature found few contributions outside of the automation systems field that addressed the future of work and E/HF directly. A research agenda is presented to address gaps in current knowledge in a number of key future of work domains. Practitioner's Summary: We reflect on E/HF contributions to the 'future of work' field and how the practice of E/HF needs to consider the changing nature of work. We outline future of work concerns and suggest research areas for further E/HF attention towards the design of decent and sustainable work for all. Abbreviations: E/HF: ergonomics and human factors; ILO: International Labour Organisation; COVID-19.

New Ways of Working? A Rapid Exploration of Emerging Evidence Regarding the Care of Older People during COVID19.

Health and social care staff have had to quickly adapt, respond and improve teamwork, as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our objective was to rapidly summarize the emerging evidence of new ways of working in the care of older people during this period. We conducted an exploration of the emerging evidence within the timeframe of 1 March 2020 to 11 May 2020. To capture a broad perspective, we undertook thematic analysis of Twitter data which was extracted through a broad search for new ways of working in health and social care. For a more in-depth focus on the health and social care of older people, we undertook a systematic scoping of newspapers using the Nexis UK database. We undertook a validation workshop with members of the interprofessional working group of the Irish National Integrated Care Programme for Older People, and with researchers. A total of 317 tweets were extracted related to six new ways of working. There was evidence of using telehealth to provide ongoing care to patients; interprofessional work; team meetings using online platforms; trust and collaboration within teams; as well as teams feeling empowered to change at a local level. 34 newspaper articles were extracted related to new ways of working in the care of older people, originating in England (n = 17), Wales (n = 6), Scotland (n = 6), Ireland (n = 4) and Germany (n = 1). Four main themes were captured that focused on role expansion, innovations in communication, environmental restructuring and enablement. The results of this exploration of emerging evidence show that health and social care teams can transform very rapidly. Much of the change was based on goodwill as a response to the pandemic. Further analysis of empirical evidence of changing practices should include the perspectives of older people and should capture the resources needed to sustain innovations, as well as evaluate gaps in service provision.

Psychological Impacts of the New Ways of Working (NWW): A Systematic Review.

Digitalization of knowledge work is essential for today's organizations, responding to diversified employee needs. Many organizations are already implementing some form of flexibility to help workers perform work and non-work duties, while maintaining high productivity. While these changes in workplaces, "New Ways of Working (NWW)", have been discussed in the literature, a systematic appraisal of evidence of NWW has not been conducted. Relating to poor work-related mental health worldwide, this systematic review analyzed the psychological impacts of NWW, and the quality and quantity of NWW research. Following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines, NWW studies targeting psychological outcomes were evaluated. Initial literature search on ProQuest, PsycINFO, Science Direct, and Google Scholar retrieved 308 titles, from which seven articles fulfilled all inclusion criteria. Our appraisal revealed that NWW research evaluated diverse psychological outcomes. While NWW can help workers' engagement, work-related flow, and connectivity among staff, NWW can also increase blurred work-home boundary, fatigue, and mental demands. The quality of NWW research was overall medium, needing more rigorous studies. Our findings can inform decision-makers in the workplace to effectively implement NWW, and researchers to improve the quality and the usefulness of future NWW studies.

Longitudinal Effects of Activity-Based Flexible Office Design on Teamwork.

This three-wave longitudinal interview study (time lag: 12 and 18 months) investigates the impact of working in an activity-based flexible office (A-FO) on processes within and across teams (i.e., communication, trust, cohesion, and collaboration) and team management. Based on a new theoretical framework on benefits and risks of A-FOs (A-FO-M; Wohlers and Hertel, 2017), we conducted interviews with 25 employees of an in-house training institute who recently switched from single cell or shared offices to an A-FO. The A-FO consisted of a main open-layout environment without assigned workstations and provided additional working zones appropriate for specific work activities. According to the A-FO-M, A-FO features are expected to alter visibility and proximity of employees compared to office environments with assigned workstations. Altered visibility and proximity, in turn, should be related to team processes, such as communication. The interview material was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. This textual analysis procedure revealed that the interviewees reported that inter-team collaboration improved while working in the A-FO. Reasons that were mentioned for this positive effect were more contact, communication, collaboration possibilities (joint project work), and trusting relationships. However, interviewees also reported negative effects, such as that teamwork suffered due to less communication and cooperation. Along with that, especially ensuring team cohesion and communication among team partners were the most often mentioned challenges for management since team members were spatially dispersed within the office building. Theoretical and practical implications, such as assigning additional team areas to support teamwork, as well as recommendations for future research are discussed.

Transitioning Towards New Ways of Working: Do Job Demands, Job Resources, Burnout, and Engagement Change?

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a mandatory transition to New Ways of Working (NWW) on employees' job demands (i.e., mental demands, workload, and task ambiguity), job resources (i.e., autonomy, supervisor support, coworker support, and possibilities for development), and their levels of burnout and work engagement. Additionally, it was investigated whether the effects of the transition depended on employees' personal resources (Psychological Capital-PsyCap). Design/methodology/approach We investigated an organization in transition. In three waves (one before and two after the transition), data were collected via online surveys among 126 employees of a large Dutch provider of financial services. Findings NWW were beneficial in reducing mental demands and workload and did not harm the relationships with supervisor and coworkers. However, autonomy and possibilities for professional development decreased. Burnout and work engagement remained stable over time. The effects of the transition did not depend on employees' PsyCap. Implications NWW have received a very positive popular press. Scientific evidence for its beneficial and/or adverse effects on worker well-being can help organizations making an informed decision when considering NWW. Moreover, this can help to develop targeted interventions that alleviate the negative consequences (e.g., paying extra attention to professional development). Originality/value This is one of the first longitudinal studies in which employees were followed who transitioned to NWW. Building on the Job Demands-Resources model, this study provides a comprehensive picture of the effects of NWW.

Coworking como modalidade e espaço de trabalho: uma análise bibliométrica / Coworking as working mode and space: A bibliometric analysis

Coworking é a modalidade de trabalho na qual profissionais de diferentes áreas sem local fixo de trabalho buscam ampliar sua rede de contatos, compartilhando espaço e serviços de escritório. Considerando essa realidade, o artigo apresenta resultados de análise bibliométrica sobre o tema coworking, a qual objetivou identificar estudos e seus enfoques no trato da temática. Foram analisados oito artigos, identificados por meio de busca sistematizada em bases de dados, a qual possibilitou identificar as áreas do conhecimento que vêm estudando o coworking, a metodologia de pesquisa utilizada, os períodos das publicações e seus países de origem. Os resultados foram categorizados conforme a abordagem relacionada ao tema. Os artigos identificados foram produzidos na França, Inglaterra, Estados Unidos, Austrália, Alemanha e Espanha, e publicados majoritariamente em 2012, sendo, em sua maioria, oriundos da área de informática. Predominaram estudos de abordagem qualitativa, associando o tema coworking a relações de trabalho, a novas formas de trabalho, ao espaço físico, ao perfil dos coworkers e à responsabilidade social.

Coworking is the working mode in which professionals from different areas without fixed workplace seek to expand their networking by sharing the same space and business services. Considering this fact, the article presents results of a bibliometric analysis on the coworking subject which aimed to identify studies and their approaches in the treatment of this theme. Eight articles were analyzed, identified through systematic search in databases, which enabled us to identify the areas of knowledge that have been studying coworking, research methodology used, periods of publications, and the countries of origin of the studies. Results were divided into categories according to the related approach to the subject. The articles identified were produced in France, England, USA, Australia, Germany, and Spain, and were published mainly in 2012, coming mostly from the computer science area. Studies conducted through qualitative approach predominated, associating the theme coworking to labor relations, new ways of working, physical space, profile of coworkers, and social responsibility.

Coworking Spaces: A Source of Social Support for Independent Professionals.

Coworking spaces are shared office environments for independent professionals. Such spaces have been increasing rapidly throughout the world, and provide, in addition to basic business infrastructure, the opportunity for social interaction. This article explores social interaction in coworking spaces and reports the results of two studies. Study 1 (N = 69 coworkers) finds that social interaction in coworking spaces can take the form of social support. Study 2 further investigates social support among coworkers (N = 154 coworkers) and contrasts these results with those of social support among colleagues in traditional work organizations (N = 609). A moderated mediation model using time pressure and self-efficacy, based on the conservation of resources theory, is tested. Social support from both sources was positively related to performance satisfaction. Self-efficacy mediated this relationship in the employee sample, while in the coworking sample, self-efficacy only mediated the relationship between social support and performance satisfaction if time pressure was high. Thus, a mobilization of social support seems necessary in coworking spaces. We conclude that coworking spaces, as modern social work environments, should align flexible work infrastructure with well-constructed opportunities for social support.

Choosing where to work at work - towards a theoretical model of benefits and risks of activity-based flexible offices.

Although there is a trend in today's organisations to implement activity-based flexible offices (A-FOs), only a few studies examine consequences of this new office type. Moreover, the underlying mechanisms why A-FOs might lead to different consequences as compared to cellular and open-plan offices are still unclear. This paper introduces a theoretical framework explaining benefits and risks of A-FOs based on theories from work and organisational psychology. After deriving working conditions specific for A-FOs (territoriality, autonomy, privacy, proximity and visibility), differences in working conditions between A-FOs and alternative office types are proposed. Further, we suggest how these differences in working conditions might affect work-related consequences such as well-being, satisfaction, motivation and performance on the individual, the team and the organisational level. Finally, we consider task-related (e.g. task variety), person-related (e.g. personality) and organisational (e.g. leadership) moderators. Based on this model, future research directions as well as practical implications are discussed. Practitioner Summary: Activity-based flexible offices (A-FOs) are popular in today's organisations. This article presents a theoretical model explaining why and when working in an A-FO evokes benefits and risks for individuals, teams and organisations. According to the model, A-FOs are beneficial when management encourages employees to use the environment appropriately and supports teams.